Apple Introducing New Strict Rules Prevent Apps From Advertising Or Harvesting iPhone Contacts

First spotted by Bloomberg, Apple is introducing strict new rules that app developers will no longer able to collect user data to build adve...

First spotted by Bloomberg, Apple is introducing strict new rules that app developers will no longer able to collect user data to build advertising profiles or contact databases. The same rules also apply to apps that harvesting data from an iPhone user's contacts.

Sharing and selling that database with third parties is also now forbidden. And an app can’t get a user’s contact list, say it’s being used for one thing, and then use it for something else — unless the developer gets consent again. Anyone caught breaking the rules may be banned.

Prior to the rules, developers were capable of viewing iPhone contact lists, which includes sensitive data including users’ phone numbers, email addresses, photos, and more, for advertising and data collection purposes, Facebook is an example of the practice.

Even though Apple can’t simply retrieve all the information that developers already have, which is very obvious, the company’s latest move on user data will be resulted in preventing further obtain and abuse personal data for a harmful reason.

Image Via MacRumors